CS2 Prime is an optional account upgrade that requires a one-time payment to unlock. But why would you pay for a free-to-play game?

Well, as you’re about to see, there might just be enough reasons to justify the purchase. (Spoiler alert: You’ll deal with fewer trolls, and that’s worth almost any amount of money.)

Contents

• The Benefits of CS2 Prime Status
  • Avoiding Trolls
  • Unlocking Competitive Skill Groups
  • Earning XP and Private Rank
  • Weekly Care Package
• How to Get CS2 Prime Status
  • Can You Lose Prime Status for Your Account?
• Is CS2 Prime Worth It?

The Benefits of CS2 Prime Status

The Prime account upgrade in CS2 doesn’t give you any direct combat advantages: you won’t suddenly spawn in with a golden rocket launcher in god mode, decked out with a bunch of prime-exclusive skins. (Sorry.)

However, it does come with a bunch of benefits that improve your experience of the game, particularly as far as matchmaking and progression are concerned.   

Avoiding Trolls

There’s no shortage of cheaters, trolls, griefers, and otherwise annoying individuals in CS2, and getting matched with one can ruin your match (not to mention your mood). Prime status improves your chances of avoiding toxic players, since Prime players can only queue with other Prime players. 

Of course, this doesn’t entirely eliminate the risk of running into someone annoying. But most trolls and cheaters don’t invest in a paid account, so Prime matchmaking is a safer space, so to speak. 

Unlocking Competitive Skill Groups

Prime players’ gameplay style and performance place them in map-based skill groups. This means even better matchmaking, since you can only matchmake with players close to your own group. This means you won’t get stuck with a teammate who has no idea what they’re doing—or, on the flip side, get your proverbial ass handed to you by someone way above your current skill group. 

Earning XP and Private Rank

Prime players earn XP points, which work exactly as you’d expect: play, get XP, level up, rinse & repeat. The XP counts towards increasing your private rank, which is a separate system from competitive skill ranks. 

Once you’ve reached rank 40, you’ll receive a service medal and your rank will reset to zero. You can then grind your way to rank 40 all over again to level up your service medal, which you can do up to five times. 

Your private rank doesn’t directly impact gameplay, but it does give you a cool way to measure your progress and compete with your friends (plus bragging rights). And come on, who wouldn’t want a medal? 

Weekly Care Package

Free stuff? You bet! Once a week, you’ll get to choose two out of four items—one is always a case, the other three random skins or sprays. 

It takes a bit of effort to get it, though: to receive your package, you’ll need to level up your private rank once in a given week. The good news is that it doesn’t take a ton of gameplay to rank up—a couple of competitive matches will usually do the trick. 

How to Get CS2 Prime Status

The only way to get Prime status for your CS2 account is to pay for it—you can’t earn it in the game. Prime costs $14.99, and it’s a one-time purchase, with no subscription model or monthly payments. You can buy the Prime upgrade in-game in the Store tab or on the Steam Store page for Counter-Strike 2. Once the transaction is complete, your Prime status should be active immediately. 

Can You Lose Prime Status for Your Account? 

While the Prime status itself doesn’t expire, you can lose it if your account is banned. Bans usually happen as a result of cheating, so as long as you play by the rules, your Prime will be permanent. Yet another reason to play fair. 

While you can’t lose it, we have to mention that your Prime Status won’t be active if you party up with a player without Prime. In that case, you’ll be matched against other non-prime players. So, if you have a stingy friend you play with regularly, gifting them Prime might be a good way to improve your CS2 experience.

Is CS2 Prime Worth It? 

So it all comes down to this: is it worth shelling out for Prime when there’s a perfectly functional free-to-play option? 

Most regular CS2 players will agree that Prime is definitely worth it. For a relatively small one-time payment, you can permanently improve the quality of your matchmaking and get access to cool new features, not to mention that free weekly reward. 

Hope this post helped you figure out whether you’re ready to upgrade your CS2 account to the paid version. And if you can’t bear to wait for your first weekly care package to get new skins, well—you can always open cases on Key-Drop!